Discipline: Biological Sciences
Subcategory: Biochemistry (not Cell and Molecular Biology and Genetics)
Justin Sharp - Jarvis Christian College
Co-Author(s): Shakhawat Bhuiyan, PhD
Benzofuran-2-carboxylic acid derivatives are important in the development of many biologically active molecules for potential use in the treatment of cancer as well as immune and central nervous system disorders. Radiation therapy is an essential treatment for patients with cancers promoting many important cellular responses involved in therapeutic intervention, including DNA damage, apoptosis, signal transduction, and oxidant stress (Azzam et al. 2004). However, many cancers fail to respond to radiotherapy because they are less sensitive or resistant to radiation. Several previous research studies have shown the new approach to sensitizing radioresistant cancers by exploring new candidate compounds (Hoshikawa et al. 2011; Zhang et al. 2014). Thus, understanding the molecular mechanisms of KM12-induced radiation sensitivity may ultimately help us in improving therapeutic outcomes. The purpose of this study is to determine the efficacy of benzofuran derivatives in inhibition of the cancer cells proliferation and/or induction of the cancer cells death on the radiation treatment. We hypothesized whether synthesized benzofuran-2-carboxylic acid derivatives KM12 may increase the sensitivity of blood cancer cells to radiation therapy by decreasing the cell’s proliferation and increasing the apoptosis. To determine the effects of benzofuran-2-carboxylic acid derivative (KM12) on human lymphoblastoid Tk6 cells (American Type Culture Collection), the TK6 cells were treated with different concentrations of KM12 and grown for varying lengths of time. The Tk6 cells were grown in RPMI-1640 medium supplemented with 10% fetal bovine serum and 1.0% penicillin/streptomycin (Invitrogen) at 370 C in 5% CO2/95% air for 24h, 48h, 72h and 96h. The viability of the treated and untreated cells was measured by Trypan blue using a Hemocytomer and MTS method. The results showed that the cells grown at various concentrations of KM12 (10, 20, 50 and 100 µM) showed the highest killing (69%) at 100µM of KM12 after 96h of treatment. To test the hypothesis that KM12 could increase the sensitivity of TK6 cells to radiation, we first exposed TK6 cells with UV radiation for 10 min followed by treatment with different concentrations of KM12 (10, 20, 50 µM). Our results showed that combined effects of KM12 and UV-radiation inhibited 100% growth of Tk6 cells after 24h incubation than the compound KM12 (50µM or 100µM) or the UV-radiation (10 min) independently, suggesting that UV-radiation induced the apoptosis of the Tk6 cells.
Not SubmittedFunder Acknowledgement(s): This research was funded by a NSF/HBCU-UP grant awarded to Dr. Shakhawat Bhuiyan PhD, Professor of Biology, Jarvis Christian College, Hawkins Texas.
Faculty Advisor: Shakhawat Bhuiyan PhD, Sbhuiyan@jarvis.edu
Role: I cultured the cells, counted and assayed the viability of the cells, treated them with the appropriate treatments (KM12 and UV radiation) and recorded the data.